Welcome back to Field Notes!
June 1, 2026
Shopping at the Farmer's Market. This is a great time of year to shop the farmer's markets in Oakland and surrounding areas. The produce is beautiful, whether vegetables like broccoli, summer squash, and cucumbers, or fruit like blueberries, peaches, and melons. Time to put away the hearty recipes of fall and winter, and start using seasonal fruits and vegetables. Stir fry, spring rolls, grilled or steamed veg, and kabobs serve as healthy main dishes. Follow-up with fruit bowls, strawberry shortcake, homemade sorbet, or fruit pie for delectable desserts. Yum!
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| Spring-to-summer produce at the Montclair Farmer's Market |
June 3, 2026
Cooking with Mushrooms. For my latest cooking-with-mushrooms adventure, I sourced 6 ounces (170g) of fresh shiitake mushrooms from the grocery store, and used them to make a delicious stir fry. Main ingredients included chopped chicken, mushrooms, pea pods, shredded cabbage, grated carrot, udon noodles and a teriyaki-inspired stir-fry sauce, garnished with dry-roasted peanuts. The shiitake mushrooms added a bold, fresh, umami flavor to the dish. The mushrooms were cultivated by the Far West Fungi company in Moss Landing, CA.
Shiitake grow in groups on the decaying wood of deciduous trees. Its natural distribution includes warm, moist climates in Southeast Asia. Prior to this experience, I had cooked only with reconstituted dried shiitake mushrooms, which are also delicious.
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| Shiitake Mushrooms (Lentinula edodes) |
June 6, 2026
Big Bear Sighting in Juneau. My brother Dave was hiking out by Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska recently, and encountered this big guy on the trail. Dave's account of the experience:
I was out walking in the mossy forest by the glacier and was almost back to my car when I saw something coming towards me on the trail ahead. It’s a big ol’ bear, and he's seen me too and stopped. Then he starts walking towards me again. I’m pretty sure we’ve seen him before and he's always been a good bear, and there were no bad vibes here, so I stepped out of the trail and stood next to bushes where he could easily see me. I stood there taking pictures and started talking. I told him what a handsome fellow he was, and that I would just stand here by the side of the trail and let him walk on by like the good bear he is. He paused a moment to check me out, but I kept encouraging him to walk on by and that’s what he did. Maybe 400 pounds?
Life is good!
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| Big Bear at Mendenhall Glacier (photo by Dave Harris) |
June 9, 2026
OTHG Hike to Reinhardt Redwood Park. I joined Mari and Gaymond for the Over-the-Hills Gang hike through the redwoods, led by Anthony Fisher. We followed the Stream Trail along the creek, which still has quite a bit of water. Our group was pretty good sized, and we sauntered through the cool forest at a very comfortable pace. I was eager to learn more about Mari's recent trip to England and Scotland, and Gaymond's earlier trip to Greece. We were joined by fellow hiker and traveler, Lorie, who had recently sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, skirting the Sargasso Sea, and then visited Spain and England.
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| Hike in the redwoods |
A favorite highlight of this trail is seeing the ladybugs (Hippodamia convergens) that congregate at a particular location along the trail about this time of year. This time we didn't see any ladybugs, although someone with a sense of humor had left several plastic ladybugs at the location. Anthony brought ginger and lemon flavored cookies for the half-way point in our hike, and someone else brought Girl Scout peanut butter sandwich cookies (Do-si-dos). We feasted!
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| Can you spot the plastic ladybug? |
Mari, Gaymond and I finished our outing with lunch and good conversation at nearby Sparky's Giant Burgers. These hikes are so much fun, and the pace and company are excellent. Check the website to learn more about upcoming events at East Bay Parks.
June 12, 2026
Happy Birthday to my wonderful sister, Marianne! She is so much fun to be with, capable and accomplished, spirited and adventurous. We don't see each other very often, but it is such a pleasure when we do. Marianne works hard, loves her kids and grandkids, and deserves all good things. I'm looking forward to our next visit!
June 15, 2026
Invasion of the Giant Puffballs. Bobo the Husky and I encountered several of these Giant Puffball on our morning walk (possibly Calvatia gigantea or Calvatia booniana). They were growing in the small redwood and oak grove by the upper reservoir. This one was about five inches across, but they can get much bigger (up to 19 1/2 inches, according to iNaturalist).
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| Giant Puffball |
June 17, 2026
We Love Washing Windows. Bobo the Husky was temporarily displaced by a visit from a team of window washers. He was so interested in the whole process, and all the tools involved. Bobo volunteered to help (he pulled one of the sponges out of the soapy water), but got to relax and watch instead!
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| We Love Washing Windows |
June 21, 2026 🌷
Happy summer solstice. Enjoy the longest day of the year and the official start of summer!
June 24, 2026
Prickly Neighbor. My brother Dave checks in periodically with photos and tales about his prickly neighbor. This porcupine forages on a spruce tree that is outside his home.
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| Porcupine in the spruce boughs (photo by Dave Harris) |
June 27, 2026
Summer Read. The lazy days of summer are here, and a favorite pastime is reading on the patio. I'm currently reading The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers. It was published in 1934 and still sparkles after over 90 years. The mystery series features Lord Peter Wimsey as the gentleman detective. I've been reading through the series over the past couple of years and thoroughly enjoy each case no matter what the season.
June 30, 2026 🌷🌞
Landscape Maintenance. Time for end-of-spring cleanup, and the kick off to summer activities. We've had so many beautiful flowers in the yard all month in all shades of pink, yellow, blue, red, orange, and white. There aren't as many weeds, thanks to diligent weeding whenever they pop up. Many of the grasses have gone to seed, so the garden has a slightly messy look, but lots of birds, squirrels, bees, butterflies, and other critters. Here are a few things we've worked on throughout the month:
☑Weed the garden paths and beds (ongoing task).
☑ Check the property for fire safety, in preparation for the City of Oakland's annual vegetation inspection. Trim branches that are close to the house, and clear the five-foot zone around the house, where needed. Note: I read through the literature supplied by the City, and I think we are in pretty good shape for the inspection. Thanks to the pruning we had done last October, we have no branches touching or hanging over the house. We have a lot of bark mulch on the property as ground cover, but learned that it is safe up to 12 inches thick (ours is 3-4 inches). One exception may be the small wood pile that is close to the house, so I might be asked to move that. Fire safety is very important in this part of the country.
☑ Spruce up the main patio—remove cobwebs, wipe down the patio furniture, fluff up the cushions, clean up the brick surfaces, wash windows, and toss anything that is old, damaged, or no longer needed. Break out the Weber grill. Note: we had a window-washing service do a thorough cleaning of cobwebs (they had really gotten out of hand), and of the windows and screens. The patio is swept and the furniture clean and repaired (one of the Brown Jordan patio chairs had been damaged). We practically live on the patio this time of year, so it's great to give it a little tender loving care. Still need to get out the grill!
☑ Sweep debris from other surfaces throughout the yard. Note: I've gotten better at keeping up on this chore. Sometimes I'm tempted to purchase a small leaf blower to help with this task, but, honestly, I kind of enjoy the slow-living, meditative aspect of sweeping these surfaces.
☑Collect flowers and branches for spring/summer arrangements. Note: so many wonderful flower combinations for small bouquets!
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